Friday, November 7, 2014

It is, or ought to be common knowledge that American
students are not world-beaters in mathematics.

American children consistently underperform on tests that
are given to schoolchildren around the world.

Of course, American children do have higher self-esteem. This means that, while not doing as well as others, they do not even know when they are not doing
as well.

Score one for the therapy culture!

And it isn’t because the Asian students have been following
the pedagogical techniques laid down in the Common Core.

Some people blame it on American diversity. They note that
the best American students are just as good as the best Asian students.

It feels right. It provides aid and comfort
to those who do not wish to institute any serious reforms in the American
educational system.

Unfortunately, it does not seem to be true.

When it comes to the quantitative part of the GMATs, the
aptitude tests taken by students who want to go to graduate school in business,
Asian students are seriously outperforming their American counterparts. The
quantitative is one of four parts of the test.

As it happens, the Wall Street Journal reports, the results
of the quantitative section are the best predictor of success in business
school.

The Journal has the story:

New
waves of Indians and Chinese are taking America’s business-school entrance
exam, and that’s causing a big problem for America’s prospective M.B.A.s.

Why?
The foreign students are much better at the test.

Asia-Pacific
students have shown a mastery of the quantitative portion of the four-part
Graduate Management Admission Test. That has skewed mean test scores upward,
and vexed U.S. students, whose results are looking increasingly poor in
comparison. In response, admissions officers at U.S. schools are seeking new
ways of measurement, to make U.S. students look better.

Being Americans, they care more about helping students to
look better, not helping them to perform better.

The problem is even causing mental health issues:

Domestic
candidates are “banging their heads against the wall,” said Jeremy Shinewald,
founder and president of mbaMission, a New York-based M.B.A.
admissions-consulting company. While U.S. scores have remained consistent over
the past several years, the falling percentiles are “causing a ton of student
anxiety,” he said.

Trust me, you are not going to cure this anxiety with Xanax.

Being Americans, business school admissions officers have
chosen to deal with the problem by instituting affirmative action for Americans. They have chosen to use what they gingerly call holistic criteria when judging
candidates.

Keep in mind these same officers say that the
results of the quantitative test are the best predictor of success in business
school.

More sensible minds point to the fact that American students
are not receiving very good instruction in math. I would add that they probably
do not have Tiger Moms, either.

The Journal says:

Rather
than effectively creating a different standard for U.S. students, one
admissions officer at a top-ranked business school said American students need better math instruction, starting in
elementary school. Students in South and East Asia tend to have a strong
grounding in math fundamentals during school, and spend longer hours studying
for the test. According to GMAC, Asia students spend an average of 151 hours in
test preparation; U.S. students average 64 hours.

It’s nice that American business schools use holistic criteria
for admissions. And yet, the world of international business is a cold, cruel
world. For now it looks as though our best students cannot compete with the
best students from Asia. Will this eventually affect our competitiveness in the
marketplace? The problem is not going to be solved by globalizing affirmative
action.

If you are looking for consolation, consider this. American students
might not be able to compete in math, but, if they attend Harvard University
they will be able to learn how to compete at anal sex.

If only there were a way to include such holistic skills on graduate
school admissions forms….